
	    		On Holiday Gift-Giving
        		    By Dave Barry
    
        
    When it comes to holiday gift-giving, for my money you just can't beat
    the books available from the U.S. Government Printing Office. There's
    nothing quite like the look on the face of a friend or loved one on
    Christmas morning when he or she excitedly tears away the giftwrapping
    to uncover a crisp new copy of, say, the "Device Good Manufacturing
    Practices Manual" (409 Pages, $18). "Hot Dog!" he or she is likely to
    exclaim. "This manual discusses requirements of the Good Manufacturing
    Practices (GMP) regulation that firms marketing medical devices must
    consider when they establish specifications for devices, or when they
    manufacture, contract manufacture, process, repack, or relabel finished
    medical devices intended to be commercially distributed."
    
    Other federal titles that make "can't miss" gifts include "A Five-Year
    Plan for Meeting the Automatic Data Processing and Telecommunications
    Needs of the Federal Government" (318 pages, $15), "Swimming Pool
    Operation and Maintenance" (86 pages, $3.25), and "Perspectives on John
    Philip Sousa" (144 pages, $17).  For that "special someone" who
    deserves "only the best," there's "Achievements in Radio," which
    "provides an extensive history of the achievements of the National
    Bureau of Standards in radio science over the past 70 years." It costs
    $55, but at 876 pages it's going to provide decades of reading
    satisfaction. I could list many more exciting titles, but I recommend
    that you see for yourself at one of the GPO bookstores, conveniently
    located in Washington, D.C., and nearly a third of the states.
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